Gadow studied zoology as a student under the renowned German evolutionist
Ernst Haeckel, but began to make his mark only after moving over to England
and taking a job at the British Museum in 1880. Shortly thereafter he
became associated, permanently, with Cambridge University. Gadow's research
focused on the anatomy and morphology of birds, and his publications in
that area are important for the effect they had on twentieth century systematics
studies on that group. He also worked on reptiles and amphibians, and
in the years surrounding the turn of the century embarked on a series
of travels in Spain and Mexico in which he developed a strong interest
in the geographical distribution and dispersal mechanisms of these groups.

Life Chronology

--born in Altkrakow, Pomerania (Polish Prussia), on
8 March 1855.
--1875: begins studies in natural science at
the University of Berlin
--1878: Ph.D., Jena, Germany (student of Haeckel)
--1880: made a research assistant in zoology
at the British Museum
--1882: made trustee and curator of the Strickland
Foundation for Birds at Cambridge University's Zoology Museum
--1884: made lecturer in vertebrate morphology
at King's College, Cambridge; becomes a naturalized British citizen
--1888: becomes a member of the Zoological Society
of London
--1892: elected to the Royal Society
--1893-1896: publishes his A
Dictionary of Birds, with Alfred Newton and others
--1897: publishes his In
Northern Spain
--1898: publishes his A
Classification of Vertebrata, Recent and Extinct
--1908: publishes his Through
Southern Mexico
--1913: publishes his The
Wanderings of Animals
--1920: made reader in vertebrate morphology
at King's College, Cambridge
--dies at Cambridge, England, on 26 May 1928.
--1933: posthumously publishes The Evolution
of the Vertebral Column: a Contribution to the Study of Vertebrate Phylogeny,
with J. F. Gaskell and H. L. Green